


90 Seconds to Air

by twtd



Category: The Morning Show
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 10:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21298163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twtd/pseuds/twtd
Summary: The 90 seconds between "Don't fuck it up," and the cameras rolling.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 49





	90 Seconds to Air

**Author's Note:**

> Just something short because I had to write something after Alex held Bradley's hand in that scene.

"Don't fuck it up."

Bradley feels Alex's hand in her own, cool and strong as she squeezes Bradley's own fingers. Her perfume swarms Bradley's head, making it hard to breathe. Harder. She hasn't really taken a deep breath in days. The gaping pit that is her stomach seems to grow even bigger. If that's Alex's idea of a pep talk… 

But Alex has already moved away. Alex is sitting in her regular chair, the chair next to the one that Bradley isn't sure she'll ever feel at home in. Whirlwind doesn't even begin to describe her weekend. Her head hasn't stopped spinning since Friday night, since this chaos began. 

She should have held her tongue. She never should have mouthed off to that protester. If only she hadn't been so… her about the whole thing. If she had just held her tongue, this whole random-ass series of events would never have happened and she wouldn't be here now, staring at the chair she needs to be sitting in. The chair next to Alex Levy.

It's hard not to be in awe of Alex. Not for her prowess as a news anchor, Bradley still hasn't changed her opinion that The Morning Show is barely even news lite, but at her ability to completely upend someone else's life on a whim. Alex didn't know what she was doing. Alex didn't have some sort of grand plan. Alex was as fucked up as the rest of them. But she had the power to completely fuck up Bradley's life too. She had the power to fuck it up and apparently not get screwed herself, and that was something to respect. 

_I do know that I think I like you._

That was a hell of a thing to blow up someone's life over. Bradley isn't stupid. She knows there are things going on she doesn't know about. Parts moving behind the scenes that she can't see. Friday night she had been a pawn. Now, thanks to Alex's impulse, she… well, she's still a pawn, but she has the opportunity to be more. If she could just breathe for two minutes, maybe she could figure out how to make the situation work for her, turn herself into a knight or something. She likes the idea of being a knight. She isn't naive enough to think she can take herself off of the board entirely, not now that she's on network tv. She can't just go rogue the way she could in West fuckin' Virginia. She can't be 'two-fucks' Jackson anymore. 

She's in it now. She's in it and she's going to grab it by the balls, and like Alex said, she's not Alex's sidekick. She's her co-host, whatever that's going to end up meaning. She didn't subject herself to the torture of the weekend to go home in a week. So she's going to reign in her own instincts and impulses and she's going to take her seat in that chair and she's going to be the best fucking co-host she knows how to be. And fuck everyone expecting her to fail. Fuck them all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!
> 
> Comments are the best and I'm on tumblr at twtd11


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